BPF

Banco Português de Fomento (BPF) is the Portuguese promotional bank, an institution resulting from the merger in November 2020 of three leading institutions operating within the mission of supporting Portuguese SME that aim to achieve innovative solutions for national and international projects, promote sustainability and economic development.

BPF is focusing its activities on five key areas of the Portuguese economy:

• Financing SMEs: Specifically SMEs and mid-caps, but also large corporations under specific circumstances
• Innovation Projects: Digital transformation, entrepreneurship and innovation
• Green Finance: Sustainable infrastructures, transport, carbon neutrality
• Social Impact: Healthcare, long-term care, education and social housing
• Infrastructure: National and local investment projects.

The first above mentioned activity will continue being done through the Portuguese Guarantee Scheme, which includes four mutual guarantee societies and a public counter guarantee fund, the latter being managed by BPF itself.

It is expected that BPF will reach its main goals to:

• support economic development by offering innovative solutions under the same conditions as those offered by leading institutions on the international market;
• promote the modernisation of companies, enabling entrepreneurship, research and investigation, investment and job creation;
• to promote business sustainability and economic, social and territorial cohesion in Portugal.

As of end 2021, BPF had an outstanding guarantee volume of more than bEUR 9.8 and supported almost 88,000 SMEs.

AECM accession year	1995
Legal form	National Promotional Bank
Ownership	Public (Mutual guarantee schemes are partly owned by SME beneficiaries)
Geographical and sectoral coverage	National Not specified
Products	Loan guarantees, mezzanine financing guarantees, leasing guarantees, guarantees on factoring, performance guarantees, project guarantees, export credit guarantees, student loan guarantees, (quasi-)equity, subsidised loans, coaching, mediation services
Counter-guarantee	National, regional, local and EU counter-guarantee

Porto/Brussels, 7^th February 2023